Riff: Soundgarden – “Attrition”

Warm yourself by a God-made fire, Pinocchio with spinning eyes/Laugh aloud under bomb-lit skies, a victim’s smile never lies

An atypically fast song for these guys, “Attrition” is cleverly mocking someone, but the joke’s really on Soundgarden. The “hooot hooo” background vocals and tambourine scream “listen to us even if you don’t like us – look, we can sound like 2000’s garage-revival bands!” It’s too pleading.

http://www.facebook.com/george.hopper.549 George Hopper

Being a critic isn’t about, “How badly can I carve up this song with (failed) witty opinion?” You’re an awful critic. How about some balance?

Karl Fagerstrom

You are as entitled to about your negative opinion about my writing as I am to my mine about the song, and in this instance we’re both right.

It’s hard to portray balance in under 300 characters, but if there’s a bright spot in a song, I’ll make room. The only good things about this song are completely unoriginal; I get that they’re trying new things outside their normal formulas, but this is a blatant bite on all the “The” bands of a decade ago. If this song were written and recorded today by some no-name band, they’d be lucky to pack a middle school dance.

Riff by Karl Ernest

Karl is a Seattle-based musician and writer at SONGLYRICS; a veteran of both east and west-coast scenes, he has performed with the likes of The Ying Yang Twins, David Arquette, Wynton Marsalis, among others. But he's no stranger to seedy dives or house shows, either.